DEF LEPPARD singer Joe Elliott was interviewed on this morning’s (Tuesday, March 18) edition of “The Heidi & Frank Show” on KLOS 95.5 FM radio station in Los Angeles, California. You can now watch video footage of his appearance below.

As previously reported, DEF LEPPARD and KISS have announced one of the hottest double bills of the summer, with the bands joining forces to hit both arenas and sheds all over North America. The tour kicks off on June 23 in West Valley, Utah at the USANA Amphitheater and winds down on August 31 in Woodlands, Texas at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

The two bands held a joint press conference on L.A.’s Sunset Strip at the House Of Blues. According to The Pulse Of Radio, Elliott shed light on how the two bands actually came together. “One and one make three in these situations. Two great bands going out together. There will be no dead time — there will be no dead air space. Y’know, it’ll be, hits, hits, hits.

“‘Bout two years ago, myself and Gene [Simmons] did a little tour of South America, under the guise of the ROCK N’ ROLL ALL STARS — a bunch of guys from GUNS N’ ROSES and BILLY IDOL, and what have you. And other than trying to out-do each other with obscure British bands like the IDLE RACE and the PINK FAIRIES — who knew each band better — we discussed doing this as well; that one day DEF LEPPARD and KISS would tread the boards together, as it were, and it’s finally happened, which is fantastic.”

DEF LEPPARD released a Deluxe Edition of its 1996 classic album “Slang” across multiple formats through its own Bludgeon Riffola label on February 10.

On October 17, Rock Against MS returns to the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, California with yet another amazing all-star lineup. On the heels of a spectacular sold-out show last March 27, the rock stars return in support of longtime friend and publicist Nancy B. Sayle. This rock-fueled concert is to help raise awareness and funding for Sayle and her new foundation benefiting those living with MS. This show will also be in loving memory of Penny (Maglieri) Tuttle who passed from complication from MS just days prior to the first Rock Against MS concert. Penny is the daughter of Sunset Strip’s legendary rock and roll giant Mario Maglieri, owner of the Whisky A Go Go and the Rainbow Bar & Grill.

“Being just diagnosed in 2009, I first ignored the disease and now with it progressing, I move forward doing all I can to cheat it and be positive,” explains Sayle.

“Penny‘s death, just within days of a concert at her family’s venue that they so graciously donated to us really shook me. The Maglieri family are great longtime friends and I want to honor Penny and many others that have lost their lives due to this disease. We also thank the Maglieri family for all they have done for us.

“I really need all to know about MS. It is important that we fight and not lose hope.”

They are showing support for not only Sayle, but for so many others living with MS in our own community and around the world.

Many more artists will be announced in the coming weeks and a huge surprise guest is in anticipation.

In its finishing stages, the Rock Against MS Foundation will provide services from a three (3) grant resource system, which will provide daily care, quality of life needs and emergency funding, while assisting people with multiple sclerosis to live an independent and full life. There will also be an educational grant for kids with MS as well as kids that have parent with MS that are challenged with funding for college. These grants will support the physical and emotional needs of MS patients and their families — as well as creating awareness of multiple sclerosis to the general public.

IRON MAIDEN drummer Nicko McBrain spoke to The Press-Enterprise ahead of the band’s September 13 concert in San Bernardino, California. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On playing in California again:

McBrain: “We love San Bernardino. Mainly, [we] just [remember playing] fantastic gigs [there in front of] fantastic crowds. I think 2005 was a little bit rough for us, but that was something that’s been very well documented and we shan’t talk about now.” [Referring to the band’s final gig on the 2005 Ozzfest in which they ended up with power cut off during the set and eggs thrown at them.]

“It’s always nice playing in California. We always used to stay uptown around the Sunset Strip area … we’ve calmed down from the party days. It’s a nicer pace of life in Santa Monica. It’s lovely being next to the ocean and the pier.”

On the “Maiden England” tour, which went worldwide in 2012 and brought back some of the band’s classics that haven’t been performed live in a while:

McBrain: “We dusted the cobwebs off of ‘Phantom Of The Opera’; we hadn’t played that in about five or six years. The one that really gets me is ‘Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son’. It’s a very tricky song to play. It’s got a lot of different moves and moods in it. That one I find really hard but challenging, and it’s really great to play because it’s a stunning piece of music.”

FM96, London, Ontario, Canada’s Best Rock radio station, last week conducted an interview with actress, model, and glam rock icon Bobbie Brown. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below.

Bobbie Brown‘s autobiographical tell-all “Dirty Rocker Boys: Love, And Lust On The Sunset Strip”, will go on sale on November 26 via Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. The 288- page hardcover was co-authored with California-based journalist Caroline Ryder, who wrote the 2010 autobiography of champion motocross racer Ashley Fiolek, “Kicking Up Dirt” (HarperCollins).

Before “American Idol”, there was “Star Search”. Before there were sex tapes, there were sexy videos. And before there was Pamela Anderson, there was Bobbie Brown.

“Dirty Rocker Boys: Love, And Lust On The Sunset Strip” is the outrageous true story of a Louisiana beauty queen who became an L.A. Goddess, and the dozens of celebrity encounters, rock stars, and tumultuous affairs that followed — Tommy Lee, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Costner, Slash, Dave Navarro, and more.

In 1987, America tuned in each week to hear Ed McMahon announce Bobbie Brown as their choice as “Spokesmodel Champion.” She soon landed on the Sunset Strip, and the dream girl seemed to be on her way to a dream life, taking Hollywood by storm as the ultimate video vixen in WARRANT‘s infamous “Cherry Pie” video. Her future seemed as bright as her smile, but the world of privilege and adoration was filled with demons, drugs, and a downward spiral of self-destruction.

In “Dirty Rocker Boys: Love, And Lust On The Sunset Strip”, Bobbie takes us on a journey of debauchery, excess, fame, and hair products; detailing how touring the world with music royalty can sometimes lead down a rocky road towards redemption.

Brown is starring in a new reality series called “Ex-Wives Of Rock”, which premiered in August 2012 on the Canadian network Slice and was co-produced by the former FEMME FATALE frontwoman Lorraine Lewis. Narrated by Shannon Tweed, wife of KISS bassist Gene Simmons, “Ex-Wives Of Rock” chronicles the lives of video vixen Susan Dixon (ex-wife of WARRANT bassist Jerry Dixon); Brown (ex-wife of WARRANT frontman Jani Lane); drummer and Tommy Lee‘s sister, Athena Lee (ex-wife of SCORPIONS drummer James Kottak); and Sharise Neil (ex-wife of MÖTLEY CRÜE frontman Vince Neil) as they struggle to succeed as mothers, business women, friends and spouses after the party’s ended and the glory days are over.

The Hell in July tour recently made its way to southern California. The trek included Six Feet Under, Decrepit Birth and Cannabis Corpse. Our west coast correspondent Dave Schalek eats and breathes death metal and checked out the show. Take a look at his concert photos and review of the show at the Whisky A Go-Go on the Sunset Strip.

Clutch and Orange Goblin brought the riffs (and what fucking riffs!!!) to Anaheim’s House Of Blues this past weekend. Here’s Joe Daly‘s review.

In an appalling display of grotesque self-promotion, the Disneyland resort in Anaheim, California has long billed itself as “The Happiest Place on Earth,” and if screaming children, eye-watering prices and queues that move slower than icebergs constitute happiness, than their description is bang on.

On Sunday night, however, Disneyland lived up to its warranty for about 1,700 raging, oiled-up punters who descended on the Anaheim House of Blues—tucked smack in the middle of Downtown Disneyland—to experience the skull-crushing majesty of Clutch and Orange Goblin. With thousands of people milling about the shopping district in front of the park entrance, band t-shirts and mouse ears made it relatively easy to separate who was there for the gig and who was there to empty their pockets into the teeming coffers of Mickey Mouse.

Texas-based Scorpion Child call the proceedings to order with a terrifyingly potent set of swaggering, no-bullshit rock that surely earned them a legion of new fans in a frustratingly brief set. Summoning the virility of the mighty Zep with the wanton six-string excess of the Sunset Strip, the four-piece raise the bar improbably high for the next three acts—no small feat considering that the house is already close to capacity and that most of the crowd are still sober.

Scorpion Child [Pic by Joe Daly]

Lionize shoulder the splintery task of following the electric Austin upstarts, and dive right into a maelstrom of proggy grooves and gooey riffage that place them squarely in the Clutch corner of the rock and roll playground; which comes as no surprise, given that Lionize’s part-time guitarist is none other than Tim Sult, Clutch’s longtime axe-wielder.

Orange Goblin follow with a blistering campaign through their back catalogue that sees Herculean frontman Ben Ward whipping the Californians into a frothing, headbanging tangle with his massive fists clenched and arms pumping towards the rafters. They cap their foundation-shaking, forty-minute set with the one-two punch of Quincy the Pig Boy and Red Tide Rising from their superb 2012 release, A Eulogy for the Damned.

OG’s Ben Ward [Pic by Joe Daly]

Finally, at 10:45 p.m., the headliners storm out and light straight into Freakanomics, followed by The House that Peterbilt. If journalists are prone to relying on preacher metaphors when describing frontman Neil Fallon, it is because he delivers lyrics with the fiery-eyed passion of a man whose own salvation depends on you getting on board with what he’s putting down. Howling, waving his arms and exploding into spastic fits of dancing, Neil owns the House of Blues within the first 30 seconds of the set and when they reach 2004’s The Mob Goes Wild, the crowd responds with a thunderous singalong that continues through the balance of the set.

All Hail The Fallon [Pic by Joe Daly]

While showcasing much of the new material from this year’s Album of the Year contender, Earth Rocker, Clutch scatter in fan favourites such as The Regulator, Burning Beard, and Electric Worry/One Eyed Dollar, finishing the nearly twenty-song set with Texan Book of the Dead and A Shogun Named Marcus.

PREACH, BRUTHAH! [Pic by Joe Daly]

Spilling back out into Downtown Disneyland as the midnight hour passes, it is clear that right now, the happiest people in the happiest place on earth are the ones with black t-shirts and ears ringing, floating out of the House of Blues.